Business 10th Edition by Ferrell,Geoffrey Hirt,Linda Ferrell

Exercise 3

Sustainability Job Opportunities
As businesses become more focused on their environmental impact, job opportunities in sustainability are increasing. These positions, while present in some small businesses, are more common in larger organizations that use a lot of energy and generally have a larger impact on the environment. They exist in both the public and private sectors. Because these positions are becoming more important, sometimes employees-if savvy and persuasive enough-can create a sustainability position or department within the companies at which they currently work.
Some positions in this field require strong leadership and communication skills over technical knowledge in sustainability practices. People in this area generally create an atmosphere of sustainability as an institutional goal, bring employees and departments together to define and meet short-term goals, ensure communication channels around sustainability are open, and compile sustainability reports.
Other positions require knowledge in life-cycle and supply chain operations and management. These people are generally inclined toward more quantitative responsibilities in engineering, finance, and technical project management and support the activities of energy systems and building maintenance requirements. Finally, sustainability positions can be found in planning and design. Employees in these positions engage in the development of transportation avenues, protection of forests and open spaces, and the incorporation of green attributes to new and existing structures. 25
Why might a large organization want to adopt a sustainability position or department?